GLASSLIPER
Global Language Acquisition Supports for
Spanish Language Immersion Programs through Early Relationships
An outdoor sink can be built at the water hydrant. This sink was a stainless steel bar sink installed in a wooden planter. It is only cold water which works fine in Southern California. The soap can be offered in a battery-operated touchless dispenser or teacher controlled pump. Children should step away from the sink while rubbing the soap on their wet hands to avoid rinsing too soon. The drain water goes into a flower bed filled with filtering plants and pebbles.
ARRIVALS & DEPARTURES
The arrival routine needs to be carefully planned at each center based on where parents drop off and the available space for social distancing. You also need to consider the location of the sink and cubbies. We can start with some hypothetical arrival procedures.
If the families bring the children to the playground, then lines can be placed for families to distance as they stand in line. One teacher can approach the family and complete the health check, then invite them to pick up their PPE bag and proceed to an empty chair and stool to help their child change their shoes and put on their apron and mask. A personal outdoor space or cubby can be provided for each child to leave their shoes and any personal belongings that came from home. Then the child proceeds to the sink to wet their hands. An outdoor sink set up is ideal, and if not available, a hose or spray bottle could be used by a teacher to wet hands. The teacher then squirts soap into the child's hands and they rub them together while walking inside. If the parent wants to enter as well, they also need to put on shoe covers and wash their hands. This process provides social distancing during the 20 seconds of handwashing since the children are walking inside and not standing at the sink.
Outside the bathroom door, or near the classroom sink, there are separate lines for the child to stand until it their turn to rinse their hands in the sink, take a clean paper towel to dry, and drop it into a trash can WITHOUT A LID. The sink, paper towels, and trash can be spaced out so children keep the assembly line moving at a safe distance. This is much more fun than just standing in line waiting, but it will also help develop impulse control and a real sense of order.
Caring for Our Childen (CFOC)
Chapter 3: Health Promotion and Protection
3.1 Health Promotion in Child Care
3.1.1 Daily Health Check
3.1.1.1: Conduct of Daily Health Check
Every day, a trained staff member should conduct a health check of each child. This health check should be conducted as soon as possible after the child enters the child care facility and whenever a change in the child’s behavior or appearance is noted while that child is in care. The health check should address:
Reported or observed illness or injury affecting the child or family members since the last date of attendance;
Reported or observed changes in the behavior of the child (such as lethargy or irritability) or in the appearance (e.g., sad) of the child from the previous day at home or the previous day’s attendance at child care;
Skin rashes, impetigo, itching or scratching of the skin, itching or scratching of the scalp, or the presence of one or more live crawling lice;
A temperature check if the child appears ill (a daily screening temperature check is not recommended);
Other signs or symptoms of illness and injury (such as drainage from eyes, vomiting, diarrhea, cuts/lacerations, pain, or feeling ill).
The caregiver/teacher should gain information necessary to complete the daily health check by direct observation of the child, by querying the parent/guardian, and, where applicable, by a conversation with the child.
RATIONALE
Daily health checks seek to identify potential concerns about a child’s health including recent illness or injury in the child and the family. Health checks may serve to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases in child care settings by identifying children who should be excluded and enable the caregivers/teachers to plan for necessary care while the child is in care at the facility.
COMMENTS
The daily health check should be performed in a relaxed and comfortable manner that respects the family’s culture as well as the child’s body and feelings. The child care health consultant should train the caregiver/teacher(s) in conducting a health check. The items in the standard can serve as a checklist to guide learning the procedure until it becomes routine.
The obtaining of information from the parent/guardian should take place at the time of transfer of care from the parent/guardian to the staff of the child care facility. If this exchange of information happens outside the facility (e.g., when the child is put on a bus), the facility should use an alternative means to accurately convey important information. Handwritten notes, electronic communications, health checklists, and/or daily logs are examples of how parents/guardians and staff can exchange information when face-to-face is not possible.
In the past 15 years of California Quality Improvements for the Early Care and Education industry, we have learned a lot about handwashing and disinfecting surfaces, but I still see children walking in with their shoes on and never taking them off.
When I directed my own school, arrival always included removing shoes and putting on slippers as a daily family ritual. It was a way for parents to make the transition with their child by helping them remove their shoes, place them on the rack, and then put on their slippers before opening the door. I recommended this procedure repeatedly, but directors and teachers responded that it took too much time.
Yet this is a great use of time! During arrivals, it is symbolic of the transition between home and school. When it is time to go outside, we set the shoe rack by the exit and some children quickly learn to put on their own shoes, while others wait for a teacher or friend to help.
Throughout my years as an ECE consultant, one of my greatest pet peeves was watching children walk across nap mats and go to bed with their shoes on. When I kept insisting that it is not sanitary, I was told that it was a licensing rule, but that is not true. Others told me that it was "dangerous" for them to go to bed without shoes because if there is an earthquake the children could cut their feet on broken glass. To this, I respond... So why don't we put them to nap with helmets?
As we move to extreme hygiene, we can put booties on over the shoes, or take them off before washing hands to enter the center or FCC home. Ideally, each child can have their own slippers to put on, and those stay at school when they go home. These can be sprayed with sanitizer or alcohol at the end of the day. We will develop more recommendations in the PPE section.